Bridges

The Iowa State Patrol wants to name the two main interstate bridges in Johnson County after troopers that have fallen in the line of duty. Incredibly, only ten have died in the Agencies 77 year history and they think naming the I-80 Bridge after Trooper Allen Nieland and the I-380 Bridge after Trooper Harold DeGear. The ISP has asked the Johnson County Board of Supervisor to approve the move- I'm assuming that they're not going to be incredibly stupid and say no- this should be a no-brainer. These guys fell in the line of duty serving the people of this state. I think a decent sign and naming a bridge after them to honor their memory is the least we can do.

But- speaking of bridges, if we're going to do this incredibly awesome thing then we need to do something about the John M. Corse Memorial Bridge on the south side of town. What? You didn't know there was a John M. Corse Memorial Bridge? Who is John M. Corse?

Well he's an Iowan Civil War General and if you didn't know the Highway 6 Bridge across the Iowa River was named after him, I could hardly blame you. The sign memorializing the General looks like this:



Per Wikipedia (the font of all knowledge) he was:

General Corse is perhaps best known for his role in the Battle of Allatoona in October 1864. On Sherman's orders, Corse went with 2,100 men to secure Allatoona Pass to prevent Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood from severing Union communications. The small band of Union soldiers fought determinedly against the 7,000 troops under Hood's command. During the bloody battle, Corse "lost one third of his men and one third of his ear" but secured the pass on October 5, the date on which he was later appointed a brevet major general. In the midst of the fighting, General Corse received the famous message from General Sherman, "Hold on, I am coming!" Newspapers later amended the text to "Hold the fort, for I am coming."[2] Corse was badly wounded during the stubborn defense, losing a cheekbone and one ear, but recovered to resume his front-line combat duties.

Given the fact that we're in the midst of commemorating the celebrations of the 150th Anniversary of the war, I think the Good General deserves a sign upgrade, don't you?